Trail Runs near Golden.

Hey, a bit off topic... Any good trail runs near Golden (not table mountain) that people know of?
Thanks.

I'm a fan of the loop at Matthews/Winters park. Has a couple of good steep sections and fast downhills. You can easily add some distance by extending the loop out to the amphitheater and doing some laps on the stairs.

Watch out for mountain bikers on the Dakota ridge, though. There's a couple of sections with limited lines of sight that they can come down pretty fast.

trailrunproject.com/trail/7…

Footing can be a bit tricky in some places, but Mt. Galbraith is a fun one. As a bonus, no bikers - although a lot of hikers, so go early and beat them out.

Elk Meadows Open Space park in Evergreen has great trails and you can put in quite a few miles with the various loops.

Chimney Gulch up Lookout has some good vert and its right in town. You'll probably even pass a rider or two on the up. Lair of the Bear is good as well.

Centennial Cone.

I second Matthews Winters. I typically do the lollipop up and over the plateau, which is about 4 miles. It is a good blend of buff trail and rocks, ups downs and flats. Additionally, there are a lot less bikes on MW. Dakota is mostly bikers and rattlesnakes, and the trail is quite rocky. Dakota is also hotter and drier--its the first thing to dry out after snow.

Apex, Chimney, Mt. Falcon, White Ranch all have a straight up and straight down character. It's fun for mountain biking, but I've never liked the long downhills when running.

Plenty to choose from.

run down I70 and then into oncoming traffic on I25

The Mt. Galbraith trail is a good technical trail running loop. You can also start from the nightbird gulch trail on the west side for a longer climb and less people. Centennial cone is nice if you are in clear creek climbing or fishing. The enchanted forest trail at Apex is nice as there is a little bit of shade. Trailrunproject.com and the app are really great for finding trails.

Bit of a drive from Golden, but closer than Winter Park is Waterton Canyon. In that same area is deer creek canyon park with lots of trails in the area. I preferred Waterton canyon overall though.

During the snake and sun season, I avoid Matthews-Winters, N and S Table, and Green Mtn. The all up and all down stuff can be somewhat avoided or varied with various loop options.

My preference, in order:

-White Ranch
-Apex
-Galbraith
-Matthews-Winters
-Chimney Gulch
-N/S Table

Lots of trails on Green Mtn, google.com/maps/place/Willi…@39.6989931,-105.1958642,13z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xc5462098883e96e3!8m2!3d39.6958614!4d-105.1718616